1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a high-performance resistor having a plurality of resistor elements which are electrically connected in series.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of known high-performance resistors as are shown in simplified form in FIG. 5 and of which a portion is shown in FIG. 6, different connections are provided depending on the respective placement of a resistor element within the resistor. The two outer elements of which one can be seen in FIG. 6 have a straight connection 6 and a connection which is angled over once and which is bent over substantially at a right angle. The other resistor elements have two respective connection tabs which are each bent over once at a right angle but which are bent over in opposite directions.
As can be seen from FIG. 5 therefore, to produce a high-performance resistor, four different kinds of resistor elements are required. These are a start and an end element 2, 3 as well as a predeterminable number of right-hand and left-hand intermediate elements 4, 5. While the intermediate elements 4, 5 are provided with two connections which are bent over in opposite directions, the start and end elements 2, 3 each have a straight connection for connection to a circuit and a connection which is bent over at a right angle for connection to an adjacent resistor element. Depending on the respective installation situation, the bent-over connection is bent over towards the left or towards the right.
As adjacent resistor elements are connected together at the connections which are bent over at a right angle, the length of the bent-over portion determines the spacing of the adjacent resistor elements relative to each other. Here therefore the competing requirements are a structural configuration which is compact as possible (without having regard to thermal aspects) and an arrangement of the resistor elements, which is as assembly-friendly as possible. On the one hand, the spacing between adjacent resistor elements should be as small as possible in the interests of a compact design configuration, but on the other hand a greater spacing between adjacent resistor elements is more assembly-friendly than a smaller spacing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,647,978 discloses a high-performance resistor having a plurality of resistor elements which are electrically connected in series. The resistor elements are connected together by way of bars. Provided at each of the two ends of the resistor elements is a respective element, the connection being at a right angle to the resistor element. A respective connecting portion is fixed to that connection, resistor elements being connected together by means of the connecting portions by way of the bars.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,958 also discloses a high-performance resistor with a plurality of resistor elements electrically connected in series. At their two ends the resistor elements have respective connections for connecting the resistor elements.